Google CEO Larry Page Wants a Tech Burning Man

In his keynote speech at this week’s Google I/O developers conference, Google CEO (and long-time Burner) Larry Page suggested the world would benefit from a temporary (if not permanent?) autonomous zone free of social rules where people can experiment with new technologies and innovations, free of the restrictions inherent in attempting to deploy them broadly in the normal world. Essentially, a technology-specific Burning Man.

“We don’t want our world to change too fast. But maybe we could set apart a piece of the world … I like going to Burning Man, for example. An environment where people can try new things. I think as technologists we should have some safe places where we can try out new things and figure out the effect on society. What’s the effect on people, without having to deploy it to the whole world.”

Suffice to say, we couldn’t agree more.

Here’s more coverage on the talk from Silicon Beat and CNN, and his full speech can be seen here.

Will Chase is Burning Man's former Minister of Propaganda, working on global communications strategy. He was the editor-in-chief for the Jackrabbit Speaks newsletter and the Burning Man Journal, and content manager for Burning Man’s web properties. He also oversaw the ePlaya BBS and Burning Man’s social media presence. Will first attended Burning Man in 2001. He volunteered as the Operations Manager for the ARTery (Black Rock City’s art HQ) and was on the Burning Man Art Council from 2003-2008. He was Web Team Project Manager and Webmaster from 2004 until he transitioned to the Communications Department in 2009.

they already have this frequently….they are called hack.A.thons…..much more popular in europe than in the states. if you want to bring innovation to technology, developers must get out from the behind the systems that sequester them. larry page doesn’t ever touch on that.

Count me as a Google skeptic. They have no respect for my privacy, and their basic business model is to serve me up as their product to their true customers, the advertisers.
However, an autonomous zone for them to play in is just fine, a “camp” they could build and play in, so to speak.
Just don’t expect me to camp there.
I still think it is cool that their first google art was the burning man.

“a Tech Burning Man” –> so he’s talking about OHM2013 (Observe, Hack Make, https://ohm2013.org/). The 6th edition of the Tech Burning Man that has been happening every 4 years since way back in the 80’s.

If you have to worry about fulfilling your occupational duties and making a living, it is difficult to be creative. If you are so rich, a billionaire…., then money is a triviality (Harper’s Index: number of years for the average-spending American family to spend a billion dollars: 10,000 years) and thus it’s easy to talk about “let’s all get together and share ideas and builds, judgment-free, failure-favorable.” Personally, I’ve struggled earning money in the past six years (total income, six years, $40,000) but when I’m unable to work, no thoughts for the job site, the ideas and creativity flow freely: why worry about what you cannot affect (income)?? Maker Faire: I’ve done three “save the world” entries. But dancing humans dressed as robots in silver cardboard boxes are more entertaining. That’s what people want.
Money. Creativity is a function of how much you worry about money.